Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to wireless communications, and more particularly, to methods for deferring communications between a mobile communication device and a service network, so as to save power and defend against battery draining attacks on the mobile communication device.
Description of the Related Art
With growing demand for ubiquitous computing and networking, various wireless technologies have been developed, such as Short Range Wireless (SRW) technologies and cellular technologies. The SRW technologies include Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) technology, Bluetooth technology, and Zigbee technology. The cellular technologies include Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA-2000) technology, Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology, and Time-Division LTE (TD-LTE) technology. By employing one of the wireless technologies, a mobile communication device may wirelessly connect to the Internet or a service network for data services anytime and anywhere.
However, when connecting to the Internet or any service network, the mobile communication device may be assigned a private or public Internet Protocol (IP) address and become reachable through the IP address, thereby causing the mobile communication device to become a potential target for malicious attacks, such as port scanning attacks, Denial of Service (DoS) flooding attacks, and battery draining attacks. Generally, an attacker aims to drain the power from the mobile communication device by constantly sending malicious data packets to the mobile communication device to keep it awake. On the other hand, some installed applications may frequently attempt to send small data packets, such as keep-alive messages, status-update messages, or query messages, and this inevitably causes the mobile communication device to frequently exit the low power state.
Since the power in a mobile communication device is provided by a battery, the power capacity is rather limited. Thus, it is desirable to have an energy-efficient way of communication management for a mobile communication device.